When you think of Japan a few images may come to mind, towering sky scrapers, robot waiters, sushi, or the bright vermillion gates of shinto shrines. One place in Japan is especially famous for these gates in Fushimi Inari Taisha which is for the shinto shrine of Inari, goddess of the harvest, situated in Kyoto. … Continue reading Fushimi Inari Taisha: The never ending gates
Day 12 was going to be another fun packed day of adventuring around the fuji five lakes area. On this morning we decided to pick another spot for sunrise and got up very early to drive over to the other side of Ohashi bridge, to a little spot of rocky shore line. Unfortunately no red … Continue reading Japan 2017: Day 12 – Kawaguchi-ko pt 3; Yamanaka-ko, Gotemba, shrines and mountains
For our next trip, getting the most out of our JR passes, we headed far to the south, our destination for a nights stay was Hiroshima. We managed to book (not by choice) very early tickets on the shinkansen with a planned stop in Himeji, as we were forced to get an earlier train than … Continue reading Japan 2017: Day 6 – Himeji & Hiroshima
On day 5 we awoke in the beautiful ancient capital of Kyoto. As we have traveled to Kyoto before we weren't planning on spending much of our time in the city itself, rather using this as a base in central Japan to travel around. Today we wanted to visit another castle, after being so impressed … Continue reading Japan 2017: Day 5 – Hikone castle
On our fourth day in Japan we left the capital to continue our journey across Japan. Unfortunately we left it until the late afternoon to book our shinkansen tickets (using our JR pass) and so all the trains before 10 were fully booked! We did manage to get seats D and E as this is … Continue reading Japan 2017: Day 4 – Kyoto
On our last day in Tokyo we activated our 7 day JR Rail Pass- such a bargain! To start our trips outside of Tokyo we headed to Matsumoto to visit Matsumoto castle all the way up in Nagano prefecture. There is no direct train to Matsumoto so we took the shinkansen to Nagano station and … Continue reading Japan 2017: Day 3 – Matsumoto
As a summary of our trip in 2013 here is our day to day summary Day 1: Tokyo- Land at 9:30am Narita airport- head to Jimbo-cho to check in and then visit Ueno park, explore Jimbo-cho in the evening Day 2: Tokyo- Asakusa Senso-ji temple, Skytree, Yasukuni shrine in the evening Day 3: Tokyo- Ghibli … Continue reading Japan 2013- Itinerary
For our three day stay in Tokyo we had chosen the popular area of Ueno as our base. From Ueno you have easy access from Narita airport, to shinkansen lines and to some major metro lines too. Plus the park and shopping area offers lots to do and see. We stayed at the Hotel Mystays … Continue reading Japan 2017: Day 1 – Tokyo
Although the heat is at times unbearable I do love the Japanese summer. My previous trip in June was less warm, but I really missed the sound of the cicada, it really is the sound of Japan to me. Today, rather than nature or history, our first stop was modern Japanese youth culture with a … Continue reading Japan 2013: Day 4 – Tokyo
It was another hot day in Tokyo (the heat never let up) and we had itchy feet to get going. On my husbands previous trips he hadn't been to the Asakusa region, and although I have stayed here twice before it always calls me back at the first temple I ever saw in Japan. So … Continue reading Japan 2013: Day 2 – Tokyo
My Nihon 